Mimeo No. A.H. 37	November 12, 1948
Dept. of Animal Husbandry

THE EFFECT OF CERTAIN HORMONE TREATMENTS ON THE GROWTH AND FATTENING OF HEIFERS
(Preliminary Progress Report)
F. N. Andrews, W. M. Beeson, and W. E. Dinusson.
Recent studies at Purdue with cattle, swine, sheep and chickens have shown that certain hormones may increase growth and fattening and improve carcass quality.  There are, however, great differences in the effects of these hormones on different classes of animals. A treatment which may be very satisfactory for chickens may be of no value in swine, etc.
The effects of four substances have been studied in beef heifers: stilbestrol, a female hormone-like chemical; testosterone, one of the male sex hormones; thiouracil, a substance which reduces the activity of the thyroid gland; and thyroprotein, a material which contains the hormone produced by the thyroid gland.
Experiment I, 1947.
Five lots of five heifers each were fed a fattening ration composed of shelled corn, soybean oil meal, com silage, clover-timothy hay, bonemeal and salt for 140 days. One group of animals had been spayed before the beginning of the trial. Stilbestrol pellets weighing 42 milligrams were placed beneath the skin in each of five heifers. Fifty milligrams of testosterone in solution was injected into each of five heifers at the start of the experiment and a second injection of 32.5 milligrams was made 56 days later. In the fifth group four grams of thiouracil was fed each animal daily. The results are summarized in Table 1.
Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station Lafayette, Indiana